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Judge orders Trump administration to reinstate thousands of fired government workers

A California federal judge on Thursday ordered six U.S. agencies to reinstate thousands of recently hired employees who were fired as part of President Donald Trump's purge of the federal workforce. The ruling made by U.S. District Judge William Alsup during a hearing in San Francisco applies to the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Interior and the Treasury Department. Alsup last month temporarily blocked the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the human resources department for federal agencies, from or

World

Can the US pry Russia away from China?

Western politicians have repeatedly called on China to limit or cease tacit support for Russia’s bloody war against Ukraine. In response, China’s leadership insists it is committed to peace and respect for the territorial integrity of other nations. But unlike most United Nations member states, China has never condemned Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and their military-diplomatic partnership — from joint bomber flights near the U.S. state of Alaska to votes in the U.N. Security Council — has only helped the Kremlin overcome its international isolation. While President Donald Trump ha

Politics

US lawmakers running out of time to fund government

U.S. lawmakers are running out of time to pass a short-term continuing resolution, or CR, that will fund the government past a March 14 deadline. "Democrats need to decide if they're going to support funding legislation that came over from the House, or if they're going to shut down the government. So far, it's looking like they plan to shut it down," Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the Senate floor Thursday. Appropriations bills require a 60-vote threshold for passage in the Senate, which means Republicans need to secure at least eight Democratic votes. Senate Minority Leader Chuck

Politics

Trump asks Supreme Court to intervene in bid to curb birthright citizenship

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump took the fight over his attempt to restrict automatic U.S. birthright citizenship to the Supreme Court on Thursday as the Republican president's administration asked the justices to narrow a judicial block imposed on this key element of his hardline approach toward immigration. The Justice Department made the request challenging the scope of three nationwide injunctions issued against Trump's order by federal courts in Washington state, Massachusetts and Maryland. The administration said the injunctions should be scaled back from applying universally and limited to ju

Business

Wall Street tumbles 10% below its record after Trump escalates trade war

NEW YORK — Wall Street's sell-off hit a new low Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump's escalating trade war dragged the S&P 500 more than 10% below its record, which was set just last month. A 10% drop is deemed a correction by professional investors, and the S&P 500's 1.4% slide on Thursday sent the index to its first since 2023. The losses came after Trump upped the stakes in his trade war by threatening huge taxes on European wines and alcohol. Not even a double-shot of good news on the U.S. economy could stop the bleeding. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 537 points,

World

Ukraine peace, global security top G7 agenda as diplomats convene in Canada

CHARLEVOIX, QUEBEC — Top diplomats from the Group of Seven leading industrial nations gathered Thursday in Charlevoix, Quebec, as host country Canada outlined its top agenda, focusing on achieving a “just and lasting peace in Ukraine” and strengthening security and defense partnerships as the G7 marks 50 years. During the opening remarks, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said, “Peace and stability is on the top of our agenda, and I look forward to discussing how we can continue to support Ukraine in the face of Russia's illegal aggression.” Joly also emphasized the importance of addressi

World

Homeland Security, rights group to meet in court over migrants at Guantanamo Bay

PENTAGON — U.S. government lawyers are expected to face off with attorneys for civil and immigration rights groups over the use of a U.S. naval base in Cuba to hold migrants slated for deportation. Arguments in the two lawsuits over operations at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, filed against the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem, are set for a U.S. District Court in Washington on Friday. The suits allege that the U.S. government has overstepped its bounds by denying migrants sent to Guantanamo Bay access to legal representation and also by attempting to send migrants to t

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Science

Report: US bird population is declining

The U.S. bird population is declining at an alarming rate, according to a report published Thursday by an alliance of science and conservation groups. Habitat loss and climate change are among the key contributing factors to the bird population losses, according to the 2025 U.S. State of the Birds report. More than 100 of the species studied, have reached a "tipping point," losing more than half their populations in the last 50 years. The report revealed that the avian population in all habitats is declining, including the duck population, previously considered a triumph of conservation. "The

World

Kremlin: Reasons to be optimistic about ceasefire deal

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that there were reasons for "cautious optimism" regarding a proposed ceasefire deal between Ukraine and Russia, following talks between a U.S. envoy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Speaking to reporters in a telephone news briefing, Peskov referenced comments from Putin on Thursday in which he expressed qualified support for a U.S. ceasefire proposal to halt Russia's war with Ukraine for 30 days but said some questions needed to be answered. Peskov said that while much remains to be done, Putin "expressed solidarity with [U.S. Preside

Politics

Trump intent on imposing global tariffs

The on-again, off-again tariffs between the United States and other countries are again under scrutiny, with the U.S. president not budging. VOA White House Correspondent Carolyn Presutti reports.

World

US envoy says Hamas misrepresented release of hostage

U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said a Hamas statement issued Friday announcing it had agreed to release an American-Israeli soldier was, in reality, a condition of a "bridge" ceasefire proposal offered by U.S. officials earlier this week. Early Friday, the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas issued a statement saying it had agreed to release Edan Alexander, believed to be the last living American hostage held in Gaza, as well as the bodies of four other hostages after receiving a proposal from mediators to resume negotiations on the second phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal.

Politics

Senate averts government shutdown, overcomes Democratic opposition

The U.S. Senate passed a stopgap spending bill Friday evening, averting a partial government shutdown and overcoming Democratic opposition to the measure. The bill passed 54-46 after clearing a more difficult procedural hurdle to stop debate on the measure, which required at least 60 votes. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed the bill earlier this week to meet a March 14 deadline to keep the government running. Senate Democrats had fractured over whether to support the short-term continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government for the next six months, reduce tot

Science

Pi Day counts on never-ending numerical sequence for March 14 celebrations

March 14 is Pi Day, an annual celebration of the mathematical constant of pi, representing the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. The holiday is observed on March 14 or 3/14 because 3.14 are the first three digits of the infinite number pi — 3.14159 ... and on and on. The celebration of Pi Day was the brainchild of physicist Larry Shaw and was first observed in 1988 at San Francisco’s Exploratorium, a science museum, and has since grown into an international event. At that first simple salute to pi in 1988, Shaw and his wife, Catherine, took — guess what? — pies — and tea to th

Politics

2 judges rule mass firings of agency employees to be illegal

Federal judges in two separate cases ruled this week that recent mass firings of employees as part of President Donald Trump’s push to cut the size of the federal workforce were illegal and ordered thousands of probationary employees to be reinstated — at least for now. The Trump administration pushed back, filing appeals in both cases. "This injunction is entirely unconstitutional," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday. "You cannot have a low-level district court judge filing an injunction to usurp the executive authority of the president of the United States," she added.

Politics

Trump vows accountability for those who pursued him in court cases

U.S. President Donald Trump promised to seek accountability for those who pursued legal cases against him when he was out of office, speaking Friday at the Justice Department. "Our predecessors turned this Department of Justice into the Department of Injustice. But I stand before you today to declare that those days are over, and they are never going to come back. They're never coming back," Trump said. During his years out of office, the department twice indicted Trump on charges that he illegally stored classified documents at his Florida estate and that he worked to overturn the results of

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World

Forecasters warn of tornadoes in US in coming days

U.S. weather forecasters warned of the threat of tornados in multiple states this weekend following at least five twisters in the state of Missouri on Friday. Friday's storms left some 100,000 buildings without power as severe weather continued into the night. The tornado risk was expected to continue into the weekend in a slew of states including Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. Accuweather predicted the storm risk to peak from Saturday afternoon to Saturday night. The National Weather Service warned of heavy thunderstorms from the Midwest to the Mississippi Valley, bringing with them the

Politics

US Appeals court allows DEI crackdown

A U.S. federal appeals court Friday lifted a block on the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government, pausing a lower court ruling blocking enforcement of a series of presidential executive orders halting support of DEI initiatives. The three-judge panel on the Fourth Circuit of Appeals, in Richmond, Virginia, found that the directives by President Donald Trump were likely constitutional, disagreeing with a ruling in February by a federal judge in Maryland. The judges are allowing the Trump administration to implement the policy while

World

Starbucks hit with $50 million fine for spilled drink injury

A California jury Friday imposed a $50 million fine on Starbucks in the case of a delivery driver burned by a scalding cup of hot tea at a company location in Los Angeles. Michael Garcia was picking up three drinks in 2020 but one, he claimed, was "negligently" unsecured and spilled in his lap. He claimed that he consequently "suffered severe burns, disfigurement, and debilitating nerve damage to his genitals" and he was taken to an emergency room by paramedics. "Michael Garcia’s life has been forever changed," his attorney, Nick Rowley, said. "No amount of money can undo the permanent catastr

Science

NASA, SpaceX launch crew to space station to retrieve stuck astronauts

The replacement crew for the International Space Station was launched late Friday, paving the way for the return home of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, two NASA astronauts stuck on the space station for nine months. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 7:03 p.m. from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying Crew-10 members: NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov. The crew is part of a routine six-month rotation. Crew-10 and the Dragon spacecraft are expected to reach the space station around 11:30 p.m. Saturday. Returning to Earth a

Topic: USA | RocksNews